38 Weeks & Melecio Addition

My dear sweet sister and I are both pregnant and I finally got our picture together! I am going to pop at any moment (...as you can see...) SO I wanted to snap this ASAP!

I am at a whopping 38 weeks and my older sister Melodi is 20 weeks along.

How fun is this! I'm sure every set of sisters is dying to be pregnant together. 

It just makes everything more fun. 

To make EVERYTHING better.... MEL IS HAVING A BOY TOOOOO!!!

We just found out today and we are all totally surprised and ecstatic! They had a lot of girl names picked out and NO boy names. lol. This will be their 3rd little man and Camilla will remain the little princess of the family. 

Here are a few pictures we took of the Melecio Family right after they found out about their new little boy. They are such a beautiful family and I'm glad we took these right away to capture that excitement:)

31 Weeks & Pregnancy Update

At 31 weeks, Evan took a couple pictures of me and I wanted to share!! 

We are SO excited for our baby boy and this is just one small way we can express that. 

34 Weeks Pregnant

So I'm currently 34 weeks and 5 days along. Pretty much about 5 weeks to go-ish, depending on baby Rome of course. I keep telling Evan that he seems to wants to come out of his watery tank like Logan from Wolverine. I'm pretty sure I'm thoroughly bruised from the inside of my stomach. 

I love that he seems so close though. I set a really warm jar of soup on my tummy and almost immediately he kicked right at it (see, I can tease him too!). A few weeks ago, Vienna let out a loud yell on the monitor when she woke up with a start and he just throughout his arms and legs on both sides. At least he can start getting used to all the noise she makes, right? :). I'm sure he's dying to meet the other little person who rules the roost around here. 

I had my 34 week appointment today with the midwives at Valley OB and I'm all on track. No complications, no swelling, no braxton hicks, no cramping, no preterm labor stuff to worry about. They think he's weighing between 5-6 pounds and he head down, like he's always been. I can't even believe how smooth this pregnancy has been, like it's insane that it will all be over in a few weeks and we will get to open another chapter of our lives. 2 KIDS! That's crazy. I have no clue what to expect but Vienna seems to be a little less of a 2-year old and more of a 3-year old. If I'm patient and take the time to talk to her, she seems to really try to please us and I couldn't be more thrilled. Imagine that.

Daddy had to do school stuff pretty much as soon as he left work so Nena and I tried to do fun things to make the time seem not so long without him. 

Up at 7:30AM, a little early for me but hey, when she's going to sleep at 8:15pm and doesn't wake up all night, I'll take what i can get. It was so cute to hear her talk and talk about all these silly and totally random things. She would include Pooh Bear in the chat too every once in awhile. She tells him that he looks like Gus Gus from Cinderella. lol.

That bear is so loved. THANK YOU GRAMPA GRIFFIN. 

We have been dying to watch Mulan and Aladdin (since she knows all the songs now) so we made a quick stop by the library to see if they had either one. They didn't but we got Anastasia and so far she loves it! I've been singing her "Once Upon A December" so she was already a little familiar with it. 

We headed for ballet class at Center Stage with Miss Cassie after that and she did really well. I think maybe waking up at 7:30am made her very alert. Hey, she could be an early-raiser at heart. I love how cute her little body is in her dance clothes. I need to learn how to sew some ballet skirts because we would totally get some good use out of them! She was really good about watching Miss Cassie as you see in the picture on the right, glad I caught that. They are getting ready for a little performance in May. I seriously wonder how much of the set stick but shockingly enough, she'll come home to show daddy different things she learned in class. 

We ended the day at BYU to feed the ducks and see Daddy before he hurried to class. She gets such a kick out of the ducks and she talks to them like they are babies. Next time I'll have to take a whole loaf because she doesn't get tired of it. The ducks don't see to mind:). After we ran out of bread, we walked up the bah-zillion stairs to go to the Wilk. We got some candies at the bookstore and Nena picked out her own Runts. All in all we walked a lot and were both pooped by the time we made it back down to the car. She wanted to be carried toward the end but I told her I was set with carrying babies at the moment and plus I walked all over campus right up to the end of my pregnancy with her. She's a good sport about mommy turning into a whale:).

Fun day. Always a great way to kick start a 3-day weekend with Daddy. How we love his days off!

Husband Quote

I can totally relate to this because it seems like I always act like my burdens are much heavier than my sweet Evan's. He seems so strong all the time and he carries me when I'm weak so often that I forget that he is human too. Like Vienna, I think he's Hercules. 

I can be so much better and fortunately today is a new day.

I wanted to share this quote just in case I wasn't the only person it might hit close to home with. 

Griffin Winter 2012 Visit

Grandma and Grandpa Griffin came to visit this winter! We were so thrilled that we got so many days with them. I wish I would have taken more pictures but here are a few. 

 Vienna wanted Grandpa to read to her but then she ended up reading the whole book to him!

She loves this book and she knows it by heart.

Try #2. She loves "Love You Forever" too, she just doesn't get why the old mommy holds her grown up son. Maybe she will someday. 

 Red Lobster! So yummy:)

My two puppies. My little puppy likes to hide under the big puppy. 

Grandma and Grandpa Griffin with Vienna right before they took off. 

We LOVE these guys:) 

Circus Outing

Vienna and I decided to go to the circus totally last minute because Evan had a meeting. He was dying for me to take her to ride an elephant. We stood in line for 30 mins in the cold, Nena kept me warm though, she takes care of me when I don't have a coat. I didn't want to lug it around, little did I know I would have spent more time in the cold than inside:). We finally got in and watched a couple acts. The rope dancers were pretty cool and we were impressed. After the show they let you ride the ponies, camel or elephants. We checked them all out and she finally decided on the camel. After the camel though, she decided on the elephant and then the ponies but they were selling tickets anymore so we had a little melt down. I told her the ponies were going to sleep and she was okay with that. 

 This was her face when the motorcycles did their show. 

She thought we were way to close to the loud noise.

Dog show

Grocery/Organization List

I have used like a ton of different grocery lists and I buy them all the time, thinking I'll be more organized if I do, I guess. It turns out I am not and I finally decided to MAKE MY OWN!

My little creation has:

• Grocery checklist
• To Do
• _________ List (Whatever current project I have going on)
• Weekly Menu
• Price Matching

I use all of these things so to have them all in the same place it awesome.

I know I'm not the only one who has thought of this so feel free to use this image for personal use

Enjoy!

DIY Drawer Organizer

 I have the messiest vanity drawer EVER! No matter how I declutter and reorganize it, it turns in to a junk drawer in only a few days. I am always saving little boxes and containers so i figured this would be a great use for them. Plus, I can tell my husband that I AM actually using the "junk" I save:).

Materials:

• A messy drawer:)
• Scissors and/or paper cutter
• Tape (double sided and regular is helpful)
• Scrapbook or wrapping paper
• Boxes, Shoe box lids, Containers, etc

My drawer

Supplies

 Figure out how they fit best. Keep in mind how you might use the space best. I always put my brush in the same place so I found a box that fit where I do that. 

 I reorganized them so there would be less gaps.

I wrapped everything like you would a present. The insides are easiest to do first.
Here is a better example of how to do that:
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2013/01/diy-cereal-box-drawer-dividers.html

My little helper, Vienna, here was so kind to help me organize my new boxes.

She was excited about having her own box in the mix!

It was really fun and took me like an hour and a half. 

Enjoy cleaning the mess!

Potty-Training Vienna

OKAY, SO I'M GOING TO NEED SOME FEEDBACK ON THIS POST

We have decided that all the signs are saying it's time to try potty-training Vienna and here is where we are. Bought a pack of 7 Disney Princess undies, there is a candy cane she has been dying to have, if she actually goes in the toilet (which he hasn't yet), her small toilet seat (insert to the regular size kind) and a small step stool. 

Now what?

Some of my fabulous Facebook friends have said the following:

• Get a Potty Watch! Best thing ever. Kid to Kid sells them

  
  
• Lots of patients!!!!!

  
  
• I've been reading about it but still didn't have the courage to start. The potty watch is good! They have them at Maceys too! Good luck! 

  
  
• With my son we would reward him when he went on the potty. We went and bought a bunch of small cheap toys and his favorite treats put them in a basket and when he went potty he could pick something out of the basket. It seemed to work great. 

  
  
• Food coloring in the toilet so it changes color when they go. Also a jar of skittles or m&ms for reward.

  
  
• Make her believe that it was her idea to start going in the toilet. Inception style.

  
  
• Rewards and a potty chart..I remember calling Bill at work for Evan to tell daddy he went poo poo in the potty! Sorry Ev. (from Evan's Mommy:)

• Don't get upset when she has accidents. It's going to happen, so just expect it and be patient. My grandpa always told me (he's a social worker) that the worst thing you can do to a child is freak out over potty training accidents. It can really damage their self confidence and actually make potty training harder. I would usually say something like, "Oh no! Sophie had an accident! That's yucky. We only poop/pee in the potty! Help me clean it up, please." Then I did actually make her help me. Treats are good. We found that toys didn't work because they distracted her way too much. You can get apps on your phone for free instead of buying potty watch. I just did it the old fashioned way and set our kitchen timer if I was having trouble remembering. Let her run around in just undies for a few days. It helps. Even in the winter. She won't freeze. Just turn your air up a bit.

Jan 11th Update of the current happenings:

They are amazing! Thanks again guys! So yesterday Vienna went a whole hour in her undies, no accidents but no signs of wanting to go in the toilet either. Then she had 3 accidents in a row. She was so surprised the first time and I think just in shock the next two times. Like she was unsure why this was happening, and she couldn't figure out why she was "spilling" lol. She calls it spilling:). All in all it was funny, but today is a new day. I am planning on going to the gym at 10:30am. Should I still go and just put her in a diaper with her undies on top??

Help please!

Jan 30th Update of the current happenings: SUCCESS!!

My barely 2-year old little Vienna is POTTY TRAINED! I will be honest, I didn't think it would be that easy. I mean, I had my doubts for those first 2-3 days but she was a champ. As much as I would like to just sit here and brag about how brilliant she is or how proud I am of her, I will tell you what I did so YOU can maybe have some of those feelings too!

Here is what I did:

• Made the idea of no diapers new and EXCITING!
• Had a little chat about we keep our undies clean.  (This was huge. She still says "We keep our undies clean" during the day, it obviously stuck)
• Let her know that we wont be wearing diapers anymore. (I had 2 moments where I told her we would just go back to wearing diapers and she DID NOT like that idea)
• Just letting her run around in her undies and shirt. NO PANTS! Super scary but it totally worked. It took her 3 accidents to realize what was really going on and that she DID NOT like dirty undies. 
• I'm pregnant so my squished bladder has come in handy. I tell her I have to go to the bathroom and she tries to race me there saying she has to go too! 
• Okay so I thought this was funny but what worked better than giving her treats/candy was the "happy dance"! Every time she would actually go to the bathroom, I would do a crazy, happy dance and she LOVES it. Even now when she goes, she says "Mom, dance!" 
• Telling Daddy! She was always so excited to tell daddy that she went like a big girl. 
• Don't go back to diapers! Don't give in, even when it seems like it might not work. Kids are smart and they figure out that this is just a part of being like mommy and daddy.

What didn't help:

• Asking her every 15 minutes DID NOT help. She actually started to get annoyed and frustrated at me for asking all the time. After like 3 days, I realized she only goes to the bathroom like 4 times a day so asking a million times was not helpful.
• Trying to put her back in diapers for nighttime was not going to happen. I just had to plan on accidents because she was SO confused why I was putting her back in them. I figured she had a good point. We did no diapers 100% of the time and she didn't wear diapers for naps or nighttime at all. It was hard for the first 3 nights because Evan and I were changing her sheets 1-2 times per night. He would clean everything, make it all fresh and clean while I took her to the bathroom, rinsed her off and got her in clean undies and pjs. She was very sad when it would happen and she wasn't thrilled about the quick bath in the middle of the night but she figured it was better then "dirty undies"
• Taking her to public restrooms DID NOT help. She literally did not go #2 for almost 48 hours because she was scared of the toilet flushing. The electric toilets, hand dryers and other loud noises freaked her out. She started refusing to go but would panic because she had to go, she just didn't want to. I let her get the hang of it at home for a whole day and then made sure to take our little potty seat with us if we went out so it would be less intimidating. She only needed that reassurance for about a week though.

For like a week, she would tell us she had to go to the bathroom like 20 times a day so to sit on the toilet. That has fortunately faded! She rarely does that anymore.

Okay here's the run down. She wakes up around 9 am and within 15-30 mins is calling for me saying she's all done sleeping or that she has to go to the bathroom. She still sleeps in her crib.....so she physically can't go by herself. In all honesty, I didn't think that one through. We got a little system figured out though so it's okay now. In the last 2 weeks, she has woken up twice during the night asking to go. I keep all the lights off and quietly take her to the bathroom. She's sleepy but goes right back to sleep afterwards. In the morning, some times she doesn't even have to go to the bathroom till 10 or 10:30am. I only give her  2-5oz of water or milk in the evening/night so I guess it's just enough for her to easily hold. 

All in all, it has been TOTALLY worth it. It is a lot of work for a good week-ish but it's absolutely fabulous not having to change diapers at all. She hasn't had any accidents, day or night in over a week now and she's always really good about telling us when she has to go. 

Yay for Vienna!

Christmas Card 2012

 I decided to do our holiday card this year instead of sending it to to my friends Vistaprint. 

I figured if it came out wrong, I'd have no one to blame but myself. 

Plus also, if it came out right... I could take most of the credit:)

Now I say most because there are some major typos and those I blame on Evan for not reading through it BEFORE printing it. I guess that's my mistake too. It's kinda funny because he might be the last person to check for typos since he had FOUR during his interview process with Mity-Lite. The good thing is that he is SO AMAZING that they wanted him anyway. Typos and all:). 

I had them printed at PersnicketyPrints in Orem, where I get all my printed material done. They are always so great to work with and have very reasonable prices. I had this printed with their pretty pearl finish (which you can't see in these images because these are the images I sent them). 

All in all, it was really fun to do and our friends and family seems to really like them.

Front

Back

It will be fun to add one more section next year for our baby boy and all his going-ons during 2013:)

Baby #2 Update

So I haven't had a chance to update since we found out what we are having!! 

It's a BOY!!!

 20 Week Ultrasound

We are going to have a bouncing, baby boy! I'm thrilled. I totally was kinda hoping it would be. Evan said he would have been fine with either, of course! I think he really likes his girls, he would be fine if we had all girls. I am happy with the boy news, it will be so fun to do everything boy now.

Here is a one of the 3D shots. It was crazy weird to see so much of our baby!

We've decided to turn the office into the new nursery. We were never thrilled with how it turned out originally so we are hoping to make up this time. I've already been thinking of nursery ideas. I've always wanted to do like an antique/vintage baby blue with pearl or silver and all white furniture.  

I AM SO EXCITED!!!

Here are some ideas we have so far:

I love the elegant, classy look. I know we are having a boy but it doesn't mean he can't be classy, right?!
I just want to go all out for him:)